Malpractice and Disciplinary Action
- Malpractice can be defined as an action where a professional fails to perform his or her duty causing serious injury or death to a patient (Iyer, 2001). It is done out of negligence or when a person in charge of the situation fails to deliver what is expected from him. Similarly, lack of discipline is shown when a person in charge fails to comply with the rules set by the authority and works in ethically causing damage to the lives of others around his entourage.
- Closely examining the case of Lorraine Bayless, it could be said that it was a case of careless behavior portrayed by the nurse to save the life of a dying old lady. The nurse failed to help an old woman as she said that it was against the policy of the senior living facility to apply medical procedures to the patients. She said that the best she could do was to report a problem and wait for help to arrive.
- There was no proof of any appropriate documentation regarding Lorraine Bayless. Appropriate documentation involves noting down all the information regarding a patient. For example, when she was registered at the senior living center, past medical records, family medical history, medical examinations or any other information that could be of help to an attendant in case of an emergency.
Appropriate Documentation
Appropriate documentation should be done by an expert or professional in the field (Kneedler, 1994). In a living facility, such responsibility lies with nurses who need to make sure that a file of every patient in the facility is maintained and regularly updated. A nurse’s job in a living facility is to make sure that patients receive the right treatment and care. In order to do so, nurses must be able to note down all details of patients.
The role of the nurse in the senior living facility could be seriously questioned. If she could not help a dying woman then her presence did not help the patient. It is clear that she was not aware and capable of handling the old woman’s condition. Had she been aware she would have managed to give the required treatment or medication and keep the woman alive until the ambulance came. It did not happen, and the old woman died.
The senior living facility should be equally blamed for the incident that led to the death of the old woman. It is the task of every responsible living facility to make sure that their patients are in safe hands. The incident clearly suggested that the living facility was not bothered about that. The living facility’s policy did not permit nurses to apply medical procedures on patients even when they are dying. It implied that the nurses did not have the documented information available to assist the patient.
First and foremost, it is mandatory for living facilities to follow correct medical procedures (Gerdin, 1997). The living facilities should not only make sure that the information of patients is documented but in the right manner. There are certain types of information that are imperative for nurses to know. Had the nurse known about Lorraine Bayless’s health conditions there was a possibility that she could have been saved. Therefore, it is imperative to appropriately document information regarding the medical history of the patient.
Secondly, it is important to train nurses to appropriately document information (Gerdin, 1997). It is very important to tell them what sort of information to look for and store in the file. The nurse in the Loraine Bayless case must have hesitated, even if she wanted to help because she was clueless about the case of her elderly patient. It is true that the nurse worked within the realm of the living facility and was not allowed to apply a medical procedure, but the living facility should try to educate nurses about their patients by making them document their patient’s history.
Not only the information should be documented but it should also be maintained in a timely manner (Gerdin, 1997). It is unethical to stop monitoring the progress of the patients or people residing in
The living facility. The living facility should ethically play their part in updating information about each and every member of their facility.
References
Gerdin, U. (1997). Nursing Informatics: The Impact of Nursing Knowledge on Health Care Informatics. New York: IOS Press.
Iyer, P. W. (2001). Nursing Malpractice. London: Lawyers & Judges Publishing Company.
Kneedler, J. A. (1994). Perioperative Patient Care: The Nursing Perspective. New York: Jones & Bartlett Learning.